


Three

by lonelyroads



Category: Elsewhere University (Webcomic)
Genre: Dorm 3 - Freeform, Elsewhere U, Fae & Fairies, Folklore pertaining to the fae, Gen, Oneshot, What makes a home?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 04:13:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14968862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonelyroads/pseuds/lonelyroads
Summary: Elsewhere protects its own, and Dorm 3 is a reminder of that.





	Three

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first real foray into proper fanfiction, and will not be more than this chapter.

Dorm Three

Dorm Three is… different. The students know it, the faculty know it, and the Gentry know it. They don't know why, or how, but those Taken from the dorm come back faster, more like themselves. Eventually, the only Changelings still there are ones who had replaced others before the housing assignments went out. The Dorm (or whatever lives in its bones) doesn’t seem to know the difference. 

Lilac has a theory.  _ The dorm, _ she says  _ is alive. It cares for its charges, keeps us safe. _ Then again, Lilac also said Prof. Book was an Outsider, and that the Library was the hoard of a dragon, (admittedly, that one was  _ almost _ true) so nobody really believes her.

Valley has another theory:  _ The dorm is an Outsider. It keeps us safe because it lost its own home, and hungers for another. _ It’s a bit more plausible, but nobody really believes them either. 

There are countless other ideas floating around, and the Dorm hears them all. It settles a bit more heavily on salt-lined foundations, shifts the iron framework, and turns up the heat a bit more. It’s nice to have a family again.

The lesson is this:

Elsewhere protects its own. Dorm Three is kind to its charges (children, all of them, it feels, dimming the lights as Lost passed through the hall to his room. Children, it feels, as Valley throws their head back on the couch and laughs with Sparks, who they have somehow managed to befriend.  _ Children, _ it feels, and curls a little tighter around the boundaries, shifts the warm air from the vents to cover the common room floor, and contentedly trails a web of magic through itself, checking for its charges. Children, it feels, and slumbers peacefully.) but not to their enemies (The Foxy Lady refuses to step foot in a ten-yard radius of the dorm, the Hunt never passes through it, and changelings newly sent are haunted by what feels like eyes every moment they stay in the building.) Dorm Three is a building, nothing more, but it knows its children and it loves them.

Sometimes, the crows will find bits of seaglass, shiny coins or scattered seeds. Whenever Jimothy nears, a new necklace finds its way onto his neck. He seems to appreciate them, and Dorm Three has a lovely set of miniature scrimshaw, courtesy of an aspiring artist who decided pottery was  _ not _ his thing.

Some students leave the Dorm gifts, hoping for favor or help, but the Dorm is a building, a home, and nothing more. (Nothing less, nothing more. Elsewhere protects its own.) The RAs return, largely successful, and students from the very start of the year are welcomed just as warmly as the changelings that took their places. As graduation commences, and its children wander far afield, Dorm Three settles into iron bones and salt-lined stone and waits for the fall.


End file.
